“I was speaking to my brother during the draw and said, ‘Watch, we’re going to get Manchester United.’ We were drawn first and they came out of the hat second,” Florentin told uefa.com.

“We had a laugh and said, ‘The day has come. We’re going to face each other on the pitch, rather than on our neighborhood mini-pitch.’”

Recalling memories of their childhood together, Florentin described an anger that Pogba has when he is on the losing side.

“He is quite irritable...he doesn’t like to lose,” Florentin added. “He head starts buzzing when he loses. I learned to lose and I would say that you’re not losing but learning. But for him, when he loses, he goes mad.”

United is sixth in the table but only two points off Tottenham in third.

Manchester United’s attention will be dominated by cup competitions this month, as the two legs against St-Etienne are sandwiched either side of a visit to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fifth round.

Mourinho’s team will also travel to Wembley on February 26 to face Southampton in the EFL Cup final, before returning to Premier League action in March.